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ANNUAL  SERMON, 

DELIVKKED  BY 

Rev'd  ADAM  OILCHRI8T, 

IN  THE  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  BEFORE  THE  STUDENTS  OF  THE 

FEMALE  HIGH  SCHOOL, 

OIC  TUESDAY  EVENING..  JULY  15.  1856. 


faye'iteville: 
PRINTED  BY  EDWARD  J.  HALE  &  SON. 
1856. 


DELITEEED  BY 


Rev'd  ADAM  GILCHRIST, 


IN  THE  PKESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  BEFORE  THE  STUDENTS  OF  THE 


F^YETTEVILXiE  * 


PEIALE  HIGH  SCHOOL, 


ON  TUESDAY  EVENING,  JULY  15,  1856. 


fatetteyille: 
PRINTED  BY  EDWARD  J.  HALE  &  SON. 
1856. 


f  AYETTEviLLE,  N.  C,  July  17,  1856. 
Hev'd  Sir: — In  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  the  Faculty  and 
Students  of  the  "Fayetteville  Female  High  School,"  and  the  gene- 
ral desire  expressed  by  the  community,  we  ask  a  copy  of  the  very 
appropriate  and  able  Discourse  delivered  by  yourself  before  the 
Students,  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  Tuesday  evening  last. 
Hoping  nothing  will  prevent  your  compliance  with  the  request, 
We  remain  yours,  &c. 

J.  H.  COOK, 
A.  W.  STEEL, 
J.  G.  SHEPHERD, 
S.  J.  HINSDALE, 
E.  J.  LILLY, 

Ex.  Committee. 


Ctentlemen: — In  eonsenting  to  grant  your  request,  so  kindly  and  * 
politely  conveyed,  I  am  well  aware  that  Addresses  which  appear 
well  at  the  time  of  delivery,  seem  flat  upon  an  after  perusal:  but 
having  yielded  myself  to  your  entire  service  on  this  occasion,  I 
conquer  the  repugnance  I  have  always  entertained  to  appearing  in 
print,  and  surrender  my  manuscript,  with  but  faint  hope  that 
the  public  on  the  outside,  who  were  not  present  at  its  delivery, 
will  echo  youb  very  flattei-iug  commendation. 

With  respect,  gentlemen, 

I  am  yours,  &c. 

A.  GILCHRIST. 
Messrs.  J.  H.  Cook,  J.  G.  Shepherd,  Auo.  W.  Steel,  S.  J. 
Hinsdale,  E.  J.  Lilly. 


SERMON. 


Favor  is  deceitful^  and  'beauty  is  vain:  hut  a  woman  thai 
feareth  the  Lord^  she  sliall  le  praised. — Proverbs  xxxi,  30. 

Women  were  made  neither  to  be  flattered  nor  despised. 
The  sex  are  not  angels,  but  specimens  of  fallen  humanity: 
nevertheless,  the  man  who  underrates  them  shows  plainly 
that  his  associations  have  been  with  the  worst  of  the  sex,  or 
that  he  is  too  dull,  or  too  degraded,  to  perceive  and  acknow- 
ledge the  qualities  which  belong  to  the  best.  Facts  prove 
that  men  have  always  been  benefitted  when  they  have  had 
right  notions  of  the  worth  of  woman;  but  when  the  sex  has 
been  depreciated,  man  himself  has  been  the  sufferer:  for  he 
has  sunk  proportionally  low  with  the  object  of  his  contempt. 

Where  will  you  find  woman  in  her  right  j^osition  but  in 
lands  where  the  gospel  has  had  its  sway?  Woman  owes 
everything  to  the  power  of  true  religion,  and  it  is  only  in 
christian  lands  that  she  endeavors  conscientiously  to  pay  her 
debt.  That  man  is  raised  to  a  high  standard  of  character, 
that  he  is  filled  with  pure  sentiments,  that  he  aims  at  holy 
objects,  that  he  is  nerved  with  energy  to  the  pursuit  of  what 
is  right,  that  he  is  urged  to  the  cultivation  of  humane  dispo- 
sitions, and  exhibits  the  courtesy  which  throws  its  charm 
around  social  life,  is  very  much  if  not  entirely  owing  to 
Christianity  having  placed  wom.an  in  a  sphere  where  she  can 
oj^erate  to  advantage.  For  example,  consider  the  influence 
of  a  christian  mother,  as  contrasted  with  the  training  that  a 
man  receives  who  comes  forth  from  female  hands  in  countries 
which  are  semi-civilized  or  barbarous.  We  are  far  from  un- 
derrating other  influenceSj  which  are  concerned  more  direct- 


6 


]y  in  the  full  development  of  character,  nor  could  we  denj 
but  tliat  after  discipline  may  correct  the  defects  or  errors  of 
a  bad  early  training.  It  seems  necessary  to  form  a  man  in 
the  noblest  sense,  that  there  should  be  an  office  faithfully 
performed  by  tutors  and  governors,  that  there  should  be  the 
wear  and  tear  of  trial,  that  he  should  learn  something  by 
experience,  tliat  his  faculties  should  be  called  into  vigoroTss 
exercise,  that  a  broad  field  of  honest  rivalry  should  be  spread 
before  him,  where  success  shall  be  commensurate  with  talent, 
industry,  and  moral  force;  and  that  these  should  all  be  sancti- 
fied by  the  blessings  of  heaven.  But  who  is  it  that  first 
draws  the  outline  of  that  character,  which  after  influence 
brought  to  bear  upon  it,  is  to  complete?  "VYe  answer,  the 
christian  mother.  Gentleness  and  skill  are  united  in  her 
hands,  lest  a  rude  stroke  at  the  beginning  may  so  mar  the 
work,  as  thereafter  to  be  irreparable.  It  is  her  hands  that 
endeavor  to  mould  what  is  before  her  after  a  divine  pattern, 
and  those  hands  are  guided  by  a  heart,  which  hopes  and 
prays  that  that  on  which  she  operates  may  become  a  specit- 
men  of  man  at  his  test  estate.  A  sense  of  fitness  seems  to 
resign  to  woman  the  training  of  the  infant  mind.  Her  great 
tenderness  adapts  her  for  the  work,  and  she  endures  patiently 
its  trials.  She  possesses  a  greater  degree  of  that  yearning- 
instinct  over  off'spring,  for  which  our  language  has  no  appro- 
priate term,  but  which  the  Greeks  thought  worthy  of  a 
special  name.  These  qualities  are  conceded  to  the  sex,  and 
therefore  the  formation  of  habits,  and  the  earliest  lessons- 
imparted  to  budding  intellect,  are  regarded  as  the  province 
of  woman.  But  Christianity,  which  views  all  matters  in  the 
light  of  responsibility,  asks  the  question,  how  shall  this  in- 
fluence be  exerted  so  as  to  accomplish  the  best  results?  Shall 
it  suffer  the  seeds  of  depravity  to  shoot  unchecked:  that  after- 
wards the  bitter  fruit  may  curse  the  world?  Or  must  the 
attempt  be  made  to  nip  the  evil  as  soon  as  seen?  Shall  that 
tender  heart,  inviting  suitable  occupation^  not  be  planted 


7 


with  heavenly  truth,  which,  watered  from  on  high,  may  ripen 
into  holiness  of  purpose,  beneficence  of  act,  and  a  glorious 
reward?  Is  the  tender  child  a  mere  nursling  to  be  cast  on 
destiny  to  encounter  its  fate,  or  is  it  an  immortal  being, 
whom  heaven  commits  to  a  mother's  hands  with  a  similar 
instruction  to  that  given  to  Moses'  mother  by  Pharaoah's 
daughter;  "take  this  child  away,  and  nurse  it  for  me^  and  I 
will  give  thee  thy  wages."  The  simple  question  submitted 
is,  whether  man  under  woman's  training  is  to  be  shaped  so  as 
to  become  the  dunce,  the  monster,  or  the  saint? 

There  are  three  conditions  which  meet  in  Christian  woman, 
which  are  to  be  found  in  none  other;  these  are  mental  culti- 
vation, self  discipline,  and  the  power  to  command  the  respect 
of  the  other  sex.  If  you  look  to  lands  not  Christian,  for  your 
example  of  the  training  of  man  by  woman,  you  will  rarely 
find  such  a  combination. 

In  the  days  of  ancient  Paganism  woman  was  often  a  hero- 
ine, and  whilst  the  names  of  Portia  and  Cornelia  remain,  we 
cannot  say  that  instances  of  true  wives,  or  true  mothers,  are 
wanting.  Yet  the  habits  of  the  times  prove,  that  then,  wo- 
man was  either  not  allowed  her  true  position,  or  else  fell  her- 
self beneath  it.  The  Greeks  were  at  no  pains  to  educate  the 
female  portion  of  their  families.  The  educated  woman  was 
one  who  assumed  the  qualities  of  the  male  sex  to  disgrace 
her  own,  and  the  young  man,  who  was  to  be  formed  and  po- 
lished by  female  society,  shaped  his  manners,  and  acquired 
his  ideas,  not  from  an  illiterate  mother,  but  from  an  accom- 
plished woman,  whom  social  propriety  deemed  an  unfit  com- 
panion for  his  sisters.  During  the  purest  days  of  the  Roman 
Republic  woman  had  honor  paid  her,  and  she  ennobled  her- 
self. Then  it  was  that  mothers  could  point  to  their  sons  as 
their  brightest  ornaments.  But  in  the  declining  days  of  the 
^empire,  the  most  astounding  instances  of  moral  corruption 
which  blot  the  historian's  page,  and  present  biting  themes 
for  satirists,  are  drawn  from  woman.    And  what  was  the  con- 


8 


sequence?  The  race  of  noble  men  became  extinct.  A  might- 
ier ruin,  than  that  presented  by  the  fallen  pillar  and  over- 
turned temple,  showed  itself  in  the  unnerving,  and  debase- 
ment of  a  nation,  which  had  once  conquered  the  world.  In 
all  savage  nations  woman  is  degraded — man  is  the  master, 
woman  the  slave.  At  the  birth  of  one  of  her  own  sex,  the 
mother  laments  that  her  misery  is  to  descend  by  inheritance 
to  her  daughter;  but  can  she  rejoice  at  the  birth  of  a  son?  In 
him  she  sees  another  tyrant  arrived,  who,  when  his  strength 
is  equal  to  the  task,  will  beat  her;  who  will  revile  her,  as  soon 
as  his  organs  of  speech  are  fashioned  to  articulate  sounds;  and 
by  his  exactions  of  service  will  add  to  the  burdens,  which  are 
already  crushing  out  her  life. 

"What  can  such  an  abject  thing  do  towards  mitigating  ano- 
ther's ferocity,  or  how  inspire  with  noble  sentiments,  when 
they  are  unknown  to  herself! 

In  the  half-civilized  portion  of  Asia,  we  find  woman  im- 
proved above  the  brutality  of  savage  life,  but  here  again  the 
consequences  of  underrating  the  sex  are  visited  on  man.  The 
wife  of  an  Oriental  is  an  uneducated  child,  with  nothing  to 
call  forth  the  powers  of  her  mind;  her  existence  a  listless  se- 
clusion, her  only  stimulation  amusement;  she  can  never  rise 
to  the  dignity  of  woman.  The  pampered  favorite,  not  the 
trusted  companion  of  her  husband,  with  limited  ideas,  bound 
to  good  conduct  by  the  restraint  of  her  surroundings,  but  a 
stranger  to  self  discipline,  we  cannot  regard  her  as  likely*  ta 
form  the  character  of  a  son,  who,  in  distinguishing  himself, 
shall  point  to  his  mother,  as  owing  to  her  guidance  the  start 
or  direction  of  his  path  to  eminence.  We  repeat:  it  is  only 
in  lands  where  the  religion  of  the  Bible  prevails,  that  we  find 
woman  disposed  to  improve  the  understanding  God  has  giv- 
en her.  There  only  it  is,  that  the  graces  of  the  heart  are 
brought  out  in  their  adaptation,  and  fitted  in  such  symmetri- 
cal proportion,  as  at  once  to  proclaim  the  usefulness  of  her 
station,  and  to  elicit  praise  for  the  delicacy  and  efficiency  of 


9 


her  performance.  There  alone  it  is,  that  the  dignified  respect, 
which  is  paid  her,  is  not  paid  back  in  the  return  of  trashy 
compliment,  but  in  the  solid  coin  of  lasting  advantage.  There 
it  is,  that  some  of  those  stern  attributes  of  manliness,  which 
raise  the  individual  to  the  height  of  fame,  are  to  be  traced  to 
gentle  teachings,  and  to  the  generous  ardor  excited  by  noble 
examples,  discoursed  of  by  one  who  hopes  that  there  is  before 
her  a  copy,  who,  if  possible,  shall  surpass  the  original  she 
presents. 

It  is  a  mistake  often  made,  that  of  supposing  that  female 
influence,'  exerted  on^he  other  sex,  will  give  to  character  a 
softness  incompatible  with  the  daring  of  manly  enterprises. 
Whether  it  be,  that  the  weakness  of  woman  would  seek  for 
support  from  a  strong  arm,  or  whether  that  female  ambi- 
tion is  limited  to  shining  through  the  distinction  acquired  by 
her  male  relations,  every  sensible  mother  will  seek,  in  train- 
ing her  son,  to  cultivate  those  habits,  and  those  alone,  which 
are  consistent  with  manliness.  She  will  endeavor  to  bring 
him  to  reason  on  consequences,  to  make  up  his  mind  to  a 
just  determination,  and  when  made  up,  to  conquer  difficulties, 
by  never  acknowledging  defeat;  but  if  an  obstacle  is  in  the 
way,  and  his  foot  trips,  he  shall  fall  forward,  not  backward; 
he  shall  rise  to  advance,  not  retrograde.  She  knows  the  vo- 
cation of  her  boy  is  to  be  different  from  his  sister's,  who  is 
smiling  at  his  side,  and  with  energy,  her  own  good  sense 
leads  her  often  to  repeat  the  lesson.  My  son,  "show  thyself  to 
be  a  man."  But  in  teaching  this  lesson  of  manliness,  has 
woman  ever  permitted  herself  to  escape  from  the  responsi- 
bility of  her  mission?  She  can  never  forget  that  her  office  is 
to  minister  to  the  kindlier  feelings  of  humanity.  The  steel 
which  she  would  temper,  and  not  soften,  she  would  polish; 
the  young  man  whom  she  wishes  to  be  strong,  she  exhorts  to 
be  forbearing  to  weakness;  while  contending  for  right,  she 
would  have  him  generous  to  the  conquered.  She  charges 
him  to  be  not  arrogant  in  his  deportment  to  the  lowly,  not 


10 


assuming  to  the  lofty,  nor  encroaching  on  those.who  stand  on 
the  same  platform  with  him.  In  short,  while  she  desires  her 
son  to  be  a  man  in  point  of  strength,  she  adds  another  wish, 
to-wit:  that  he  may  be,  not  in  the  sense  of  bows,  and  scrapes, 
and  conventional  graces,  but  in  her  own  instructive  appre- 
hension of  the  word,  a  gentleman. 

A  sensible  christian  mother  has  still  a  higher  mark  in  the 
moulding  of  her  son.  She  wants  to  see  him  reach  the  highest 
style  of  man:  amid  the  grades  of  an  excellence  stamped  by 
heaven  on  human  character,  her  conception  of  the  front  rank, 
"which  she  prays  her  son  may  attain^  is  made  up  of  the  en- 
durance of  the  martyr,  the  enterprise  of  the  hero,  and  the 
benevolence  of  the  philanthropist.  It  is  not  merely  a  piety 
"which  shall  be  without  reproach  in  the  church,  and  which 
shall  fit  for  Heaven,  but  it  is  a  manly  piety,  which  is  the  ob- 
ject of  her  aspirings.  She  prays  that  in  her  son  a  cherub's 
light  may  shine,  with  the  glowing  warmth  of  a  seraph's  love; 
that  like  John  a  Saviour's  bosom  may  be  his  familiar  resting 
place;  like  Peter  he  may  never  tire  in  his  work,  but  be  earnest 
till  he  put  off  his  tabernacle;  that  he  may  feel  like  Paul  that 
he  owes  the  world  a  debt  which  he  must  be  constantly  pay- 
ing in  his  Master's  name.  With  prayer  she  reads  the  annals 
of  the  Church,  and  says  if  her  son  must  fall  in  youth,  may  he 
fall  like  McCheyne  and  Summerfield,  with  his  armor  on;  if  he 
die  in  his  maturity,  may  he  be  found  fully  ripe  for  the 
heavenly  garner,  and  the  fruits  which  fell  from  him  by  the 
way,  may  they  remain  upon  the  earth  long  to  be  gathered — 
if  he  sink  into  the  grave  after  a  long  and  useful  life,  may  the 
last  memento  of  him  be,  that  he  still  brought  forth  fruit  in 
.old  age.  Thus  prayed  the  mothers  of  a  Wesley,  a  President 
Davis,  and  a  Judson.  Thus  holy  women  in  every  age  of  the 
Church  have  stamped  upon  the  character  of  their  sons  an 
immortality — known  to  earthly  fame,  but  "shining  brighter 
in  the  skies." 

Gentlemen,  Guardians  and  Supporters  of  the  Fayetteville 


11 

Female  Iligli  Scliool,  you  have  done  a  gfeat  work  in  com- 
mencing an  institution,  for  which  we  sincerely  hope  that  after 
generations  will  bless  your  names.  Alreac^  have  you  been, 
in  part,  recompensed  by  the  benefit  receif^ed,  for  the  pains 
you  have  taken,  and  it  cannot  biit  be,  that^a  proper  training 
bestowed  upon  your  daughters  will  be  felt  by  your  and  their 
descendants.  * 

But  whilst  I  shall  endeavor  not  to  trans-cend  modesty,  in 
taking  advantage  of  my  position  to  address  you  too  plainly, 
the  station  I  occupy  enjoins  me  to  remind  ^'ou,  that  it  is  not 
the  amount  of  intellectual  culture,  not  the^poli^h  imparted  to 
the  manners,  nor  the  waking  up  of  the  perceptions  of  taste, 
valuable  as  all  these  are,  that  constitute/he  glory  of  woman. 
You  have  shown  that  you  did  not  despise^the  female  under- 
standing. You  have  adopted  a  scheme  df  study*  calculated 
to  furnish  and  strengthen  the  mind.  As  tiie  institution  grows 
older,  you  will  doubtless  afford  every  means  and  facility  for 
raising  the  standard  of  education  in  this  cojnmunity;  but  it 
ouglit  never  to  be  forgotten  how  essential  if-  is  to  the  perform- 
ance of  woman's  mission,  that  the  heart  should  be  cultivated 
as  well  as  the  intellect.  Should  a  Seminary  for  the  education 
of  females  ignore  this  fact,  though  it  may  'turnout  from  time 
to  time  such  as  are  fitted  to  adorn  a  drawing  room — such  as 
by  the  grace  of  their  deportment,  and  the^brilliancy  of  their 
accomplishments,  will  awaken  admiration — such  as  will  at- 
tract the  other  sex  to  their^company  by  the  sprightliness  of 
their  conversation— even  though  to  these  be  added  a  know- 
ledge of  the  details  of  practical  life,  it  will  fftil  in  making  the 
training  imparted  subserve  the  highest  end  of  education.  For 
remember,  ''Favor  is  deceitful,  beauty  is  vain,  but  a  womau 
that  feareth  the  Lord,  she  shall  be  praise(f." 

You  have  set  out  with  the  determination  to  avoid  sectari- 
anism in  tiie  pursuit  of  your  scheme.  This  is  right  and  pro- 
per for  an  institution  designed  for  inviting  tiie  patronage  of 
every  Christian  denomination.   I  know  not  a  source  of  great- 


12 

er  bitterness  than*'  a  sectarian  spirit;  mingling  with  social 
charities,  it  poisons  all  that  is  pleasant  in  intercourse.  The 
man  who  is  capable  of  abusing  his  position  while  training 
another's  child,  and  employs  his  office  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
stilling contempt  for  a  parent's  creed,  and  of  cutting  the  cord 
which  binds  to  the  parent's  holiest  associations,  is  one  of  the 
greatest  enemies  known  to  domestic  peace.  He  is  the  most 
artful  plotter  against  the  harmonies  that  liken  earth  to  heaven, 
and  it  is  worst  of  all  when  this  is  done  under  the  pretence  of 
enlarged  Christian  charity.  I  know  there  are  some  who  af- 
fect to  think,  "that  the  end  of  ail  evangelical  sects  being  the 
same,  provided  a  ^jhild  becomes  truly  pious,  the  matter  of 
joining  a  particular  church  is  of  little  consequence.  But  is 
it  so?  Is  there  not  a  pathos  in  the  language  of  a  j^outhful  fe- 
male to  her  mothjr:  "Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  nor  to  re- 
turn from  following  after  thee;  for  whither  thou  goest,  I  will 
go;  where  thou  lQ(^gest,  I  will  lodge;  thy  jpeo])le  shall  be  my 
people,  and  thy  {xod  shall  he  my  God.^^  We  need  but  appeal 
to  the  distressing^eelings  which  have  often  been  engendered, 
when  a  child,  on  returning  home  from  school,  is  seen  going 
to  a  different  chu^'ch,  mingling  with  different  religious  soci- 
ety; and  perhaps  is  led  to  think  it  to  be  a  duty  to  oppose,  re- 
sist, and  destroy,  what  the  parentis  attempting  to  build  up. 
What  is  thus  unpleasant,  is  rendered  Mtter  by  the  fact,  that 
in  the  doings  of  that  child  there  is  illustrated,  not  the  strength 
of  a  reasoning  conviction,  but  th^  evidence  of  a  dupery  prac- 
tised b}'  a  heartless  proselytism. 

But  if  a  school  should  be  founded,  not  with  a  view  of  be- 
coming a  manufactory  of  Methodists,  Baptists,  Episcopalians, 
or  Presbyterians,  it  is  nevertheless  bound  to  bring  to  bear  on 
the  conscience,  those  principles  which  are  common  to  every 
church  worthy  of  being  considered  Christian.  Shall  the  plan 
of  study  meet  the  wants  of  every  faculty,  but  that  of  con- 
science? Shall  the  beauties  of  human  authors  be  enlarged  on, 
and  the  "book  of  books"  receive  no  attention?    Shall  the  sci- 


13 


ence  of  numbers  be  taught,  but  the  mind  never  be  turned  to 
calculate  the  worth  of  the  soul?  Shall  the  lips,  which  would 
check  impropriety  of  conduct  by  admonition,  and  direct  the 
erriug  to  the  consideration  of  grieving  parents,  and  to  the 
self  reproach  to  be  encountered  when  society  will  condemn — 
never  suggest  that  duty  is  based  on  still  higher  motives  than 
these?  Shall  the  praise  of  man,  and  not  the  fear  of  God,  be 
urged  as  the  chief  thing  to  be  regarded  in  the  conduct  to  be 
pursued?  Shall  a  child,  who  leaves  a  religious  home,  find  in 
school  what  will  lead  her  to  forget  the  lesson  which  a  pious 
Father  or  Mother  has  taught;  and  on  her  return  to  the  pa- 
rental dwelling,  show  that  though  her  mind  is  stored  and  her 
manners  formed,  but  that  she  has  forgotten  God,  and  that  his 
fear  is  not  before  her  eyes? 

Gentlemen,  in  speaking  thus,  I  believe  you  have  had  your 
eyes  set  on  these  two  things.  You  would  not  willingly  wound 
the  conscientious  preferences  of  any  of  your  patrons  with  re- 
gard to  religion,  and  you  would  not  have  your  school  taught 
on  any  other  than  religious  principles.  I  congratulate  you  in 
having  placed  the  institution  in  hands,  which  have  hitherto 
carefully  avoided  the  occasion  for  denominational  jealousy, 
and  which  have  not  been  unmindful  of  a  responsibility  due  to 
one  higher  than  yourselves,  in  setting  before  the  minds  of 
these  children  the  fear  of  God,  as  the  great  incentive  of  human 
action. 

A  large  patronage,  promising  to  increase,  has  been  at  once 
your  reward,  and  a  testimonial  of  public  confidence  in  the 
fidelity  of  your  Principal  to  the  trust  committed. 

And  now,  my  dear  young  ladies,  I  turn  to  you.  Although 
you  have  not  been  directly  addressed,  if  you  have  been  at- 
tentive, much  has  been  suggested,  which  you  have  applied 
to  your  present  situation,  and  your  future  prospects:  but  more 
particularly  would  I  now  use  the  words  of  my  text,  for  the 
purpose  of  setting  before  you  the  preeminence  of  personal  pi- 
ety beyond  every  other  qualification.    "Favor  is  deceitful, 


14: 


l)eauty  is  vain,  but  a  woman  tliat  fcareth  the  Lord,  she  shall 
be  praised." 

By  favor  is  here  meant  those  characteristics,  wliich  win  the 
esteem  of  otliers;  be  it  ingratiating  address,  a  gentle  demean- 
or, or  the  attractions  whicli  a  well  stored  mind  and  a  ready 
utterance  will  supply.  The  wise  man,  had  he  been  his  own 
*commentator  on  the  text,  would  not  have  underrated  any  of 
these  things  abstractly  considered,  for  they  are  indeed  valu^ 
able,  wlien  properly  accompanied,  and  directed  to  right  ob- 
jects. We  are  all  so  constituted  as  to  desire  to  please,  and 
60  long  as  there  are  some  things  in  themselves  more  pleasing 
than  others,  you  should,  according  to  the  declaration  of  an 
inspired  Apostle,  "Covet  earnestlj^  the  best  gifts."  Your  op- 
portunities in  the  High  School  will  give  3'ou  advantages  in 
society  beyond  the  less  favored;  but  build  not  too  much  on 
them;  unsanctified  learning  has  often  proved  a  curse,  in  the 
case  of  both  man  and  woman.  The  best  endowed,  if  without 
religious  principle,  will  be  the  most  injurious,  because  pos- 
sessed of  means  for  doing  the  greatest  amount  of  mischief. 
And  there  are  doubtless  many,  who,  not  having  your  present 
advantages,  will  be  of  more  use  in  the  world  than  you,  if  you 
do  not  employ  your  talents  for  the  advancement  of  your  Ma- 
ker"'s  glorv.  But  a  reward  is  before  you  for  doin^:  riirht  in 
this  matter;  a  woman  that  feareth  the  Lord,  sJie  shall  be 
praised.  The  favor,  with  which  an  intelligent,  refined,  and 
Christian  circle  regards  a  woman,  who  is  at  once  pious  and 
accomplished,  cannot  be  deceitful.  For  wherein  society  ap- 
preciates worth  it  compliments  itself  for  its  discernment,  and 
in  the  bestowment  of  countenance  on  merit,  tends  to  render 
its  object  more  worth3^  But  what  is  the  praise,  even  of  the 
best  of  mortals,  when  compared  with  the  approbation  of  your 
God?  This  you  surely  will  have,  if  you  lay  yourselves  and 
your  acquirements  at  the  Saviour's  feet,  and  whether  you  do 
much  or  little  in  his  cause,  you  will  be  rewarded  for  doing 
what  you  could.   You  will  have  the  testimony  of  a  good  con- 


15 


science  now,  and  hereafter  a  plaudit  which  will  be  to  you  a 
source  of  blessedness  forever.  Let,  then,  the  fear  of  God  be 
before  jour  ejes,  and  the  love  of  Christ  rule  within  your 
heart.  You  will  then  acquire  a  knowledge  v/hich  your  teach- 
ers cannot  give  you,  to  any  extent, — the  knowledge  of  your- 
selves; the  daily  incidents  of  the  school-room  will  tend  to 
increase  that  knowledge,  and  prepare  you  for  action  in  a 
more  important  field,  where  your  works  shall  praise  you. 
The  girl  on  whom  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  doth  rest,  will  de- 
velope  into  the  lovely  woman;  she  will  become  the  creator  of 
a  pleasant  home,  the  centre  of  a  circle  which  she  will  both 
adorn  and  refine;  a  star  in  the  constellation  of  worthies,  each 
of  which,  absorbing  beams  from  the  eternal  fountain  of  light, 
shall  shine  when  every  earthly  glory  sliall  fade  away.  Then, 
my  young  friends,  be  diligent  in  your  studies,  watchful  over 
your  temper  and  conduct,  both  towards  your  teachers  and 
companions.  Read  much  and  meditate  carefully  on  the 
Scriptures  of  everlasting  truth.  Pray  frequently  and  earn- 
estly for  the  divine  blessing  in  the  pardon  of  your  sins,  and 
for  the  bestowment  of  the  Spirit's  aid  in  your  endeavors  to 
honor  the  Lord  in  your  present  pursuits.  May  He  grant  all 
that  you  need,  and  more  than  I  fear  some  of  you  now  desire; 
and  may  he  crown  you  at  last  in  his  kingdom  with  his  richest 
favor:  Amen. 


r 


N.C        975.6     Z993  1841-59 


N.C  Pamphlets 


N-C       975.6       Z993  1841-53 

»      V      ^  ^1  542894 


jHlS  VOLUME  T>0  K  ILDIHO 


